Who Killed Christopher Marlowe? Year 10 Free Learning Day March 2017 Introduction Christopher Marlowe is one of the literary and cultural heroes in whose honour Dulwich College Day Houses are named. He met an untimely death, at just 29 years of age, whilst in a modest and respectable dining-house in Deptford. There are many conspiracy theories surrounding his death including those founded on his apparent associations with atheism, homosexuality and, most excitingly, the possibility that he was a spy working for Queen Elizabeth I. Today you will explore many of these aspects through a variety of talks and workshops, designed to embrace the spirit of independent cross-curricular enquiry. By the end of the day, we hope you will have a greater appreciation of who Marlowe was and what became of him. Mrs J. Stanley Guest Speakers Nick Inges Nick is a Partner at Tuckers Solicitors and he heads their Crown Court team in Camberwell, South London. Nick has worked as a solicitor defending the full array of criminal cases in the Magistrates’ Court and Crown Court for more than 30 years. His breadth of cases includes terrorism, organised crime, corruption, health and safety, football hooliganism, class A-C [drugs] (importation, distribution and supply), serious sexual offences, confiscation and murder. When Nick’s father-in-law, Professor Park Honan, was writing the renowned biography Christopher Marlowe: Poet & Spy he quizzed Nick about ‘the murder in the tavern’ and the various criminal defences that could have been used by the person or persons who stabbed him. In this talk, Nick will describe the right of self-defence as it currently operates and then consider whether self defence was a credible defence for Marlowe’s murderer. Matthew D’Ancona Matthew d’Ancona writes a weekly column for The Guardian. He was previously editor of The Spectator and also writes for the Evening Standard and GQ. He was the Sunday Telegraph’s political columnist for 19 years. He is a visiting research fellow at Queen Mary University of London, author of several books including In It Together: The Inside Story of the Coalition, and chairman of the thinktank Bright Blue. Matthew’s most recent book Post-Truth investigates the current political climate where trust has evaporated, conspiracy theories thrive, the authority of the media has wilted and social emotions matter more than facts. In his talk, Matthew is going to discuss the impact of fake news in the media today and explain how we can and why we must fight back. He will also travel back in time and address the strong suggestion that Marlowe faked his on death, aided by the fake telling of events. Workshops Reade all aboute yt! Christopher Marlowe’s literary potential was cut tragically short by his untimely death, but the dashing young man was already one of the most promising playwrights of his day. As with the death of any 21st-century celebrity, his murder would have been big news. Your job in this workshop is to imagine you’re in a 16th-century newsroom with a looming deadline to file copy, and your editor has demanded an article to cover the sensational, shocking death of one of England’s premier theatrical pen-flourishers. In teams, you will study a model article before rolling up your metaphorical sleeves and putting together your front-page scoop, using your own top-notch wordsmithery to report the events and speculation surrounding Marlowe’s death to a London public baying for information. True or False? In this session, historical documents from the Dulwich College Archives will help bring alive the characters involved in Marlowe’s story and their links to Dulwich College. We’ll use these documents to assess whether there was a conspiracy of silence amongst Marlowe’s associates and we’ll try to decide whether he was accidentally killed or whether his death was faked. Stepping through time from a possible faked death to modern day ‘fake news’, we’ll play a game of True or False with a few stories and ask how we can fight the spread of fake news. Code Breaking In this session you will be interpreting strange and unknown words in the fictional restaurant reviews of Dame Eleanor Bull’s Dining House, where Marlowe was murdered. These language games are based on competitions in the Linguistics Olympiad and the Oxford University Language Entrance Test. Forensic Chemistry In a fictional scenario, police officers discover a chemical on Marlowe’s body shortly after his death. You will be applying your scientific knowledge and using analytical chemistry techniques to identify this unknown chemical by comparing it with known compounds. Identifying the substance will take you one step further to determining the guilt of one of the suspects. Crimewatch Reconstruction, 1593 Using the Coroner’s Report and four actors we aim to reconstruct the circumstances around Marlowe’s death. Our fight director will describe the weapons used at the time and explain the technical detail contained in the report to bring it to life. Each group will contribute to the final performance presented at the end of the afternoon. Who was Christopher Marlowe? The most famous playwright of his day, who would have rivalled Shakespeare for output had he not been killed in Deptford in shady circumstances over a bill or ‘the reckonynge’ in 1593. Born in Canterbury in 1564, three months before Shakespeare, he was a cobbler’s son who was bright and went to the King’s School, Canterbury in 1578. He gained a scholarship to Cambridge and graduated in 1584. Marlowe was the author of six verse tragedies including Dido, Queen of Carthage, Tamburlaine the Great, The Jew of Malta, Edward II, The Massacre at Paris and Dr Faustus, (Our founder, Edward Alleyn, made Christopher Marlowe in the his name as an actor playing the male lead in all these plays). ‘Corpus Christi Portrait’ While earning fame as a poet at Cambridge, Marlowe was enlisted into Francis Walsingham’s secret service. He was sponsored by Thomas Walsingham, a patron of the arts and cousin to Francis Walsinham (Spymaster and head of what would now be MI5). Marlowe was arrested for forgery in 1592 in Vlissengen. Was this part of his spying mission? What was a poet and playwright doing forging coins in Holland? Turbulent Times After the threat of Mary Queen of Scots had faded (she was executed in Francis Walsingham, 1587), a new danger emerged. Elizabeth, ‘Good Queen Bess’, had no heir. Spymaster James VI of Scotland was the most likely to succeed. Key Political Figures – The Walsinghams Francis Walsingham The Spymaster who directly reported to Queen Elizabeth I. Francis foiled several Catholic plots against the Queen’s life, including the Babington Plot – or ‘beer barrel plot’. Francis was part of an Elizabethan ‘police state’ where torture and blackmail were commonplace. Thomas Walsingham Younger cousin to Francis Walsingham who was enlisted as a ‘diplomatic courier’ for the crown. i.e. as a spy! He became a patron of Marlowe’s Thomas Walsingham, during the playwright’s short career. Thomas created dual allegiances to Marlowe’s patron both England and Scotland – a dangerous game! Marlowe’s Arrest Marlowe was a controversial figure, who famously stated ‘They that love not tobacco and boys are fools’. In other words, he was most probably a homosexual. He was very likely an atheist as well, given the content of Dr. Faustus, who incidentally was played by our founder, Edward Alleyn. Both homosexuality and atheism were crimes punishable by death. Was this enough to get Marlowe killed, however? In 1593 a warrant for Marlowe’s arrest was sent out because libellous (atheistic) material was found in fellow playwright, Thomas Kyd’s, lodgings. Marlowe appeared at court on the appointed day, but no Privy Council was called, so he went home. Ten days later, Marlowe was dead. Who was with Marlowe at the time of his death? Robert Poley Double agent. Agent provocateur A senior figure in the spying world – a ‘special messenger’ of the crown, and in the pay of Francis Walsingham (later under Robert Cecil). He was involved in foiling the Babington plot. Nicholas Skeres A dangerous character, Skeres had been a soldier in the war effort against Spanish-held terrain in The Netherlands and knew how to kill a man. He was also a con man involved in murky world of double dealing and petty fraud. An accomplice of Ingram Frizer. It is possible he was known to Marlowe. Ingram Frizer The man who reportedly stabbed Marlowe above the right eye. Termed as a local ‘businessman’ – he was in fact business advisor to Thomas Walsingham (the Spymaster’s cousin and patron of Marlowe). Like Marlowe, his fortunes rested with Thomas Walsingham’s. He was an accomplice of Skeres in his con-tricks and probably an acquaintance of Marlowe’s. It was he who invited him to Deptford on that fatal day. So…. Who Killed Kit Marlowe? …That is for you to find out! Assume nothing. Consider everything. Watch out for red herrings. Think WHY would someone want to kill a poet and playwright – the talk of the town? Was it really over a lunch bill? Remember, the below extract is from an ‘official’ source, ones which were often altered to suit the needs of vested interests! Extract from The Coroner’s Inquisition Ingram ffrysar, late of London, Gentleman, and the aforesaid Christopher Morley, and Nicholas Skeres, late of London, Gentleman, and Robert Poley of London aforesaid, Gentleman, on the thirtieth of May in the aforesaid thirtyfifth year, at the aforesaid Detford Strand in the aforesaid County of Kent within the verge about the tenth hour